Artist Thomas Schütte showcases key sculptural\, photographic and
painted portraits at the Serpentine Gallery. Although the artist has retur
ned to portraiture throughout his career\, this is the first exhibition ded
icated entirely to these pioneering works. Key pieces from the artist's mos
t famous series are presented together with new work made especially for th
e Serpentine.

Over the
last two decades\, Schütte has created watercolours and drawings of acquai
ntances and friends\, as well as numerous self-portraits\, including the Mirror Drawing works. His drawings are often created in series\, appro
aching the same subject numerous times as a means of engaging with its true
nature. Schütte's drawings feed closely into his sculptural portraits\, wh
ich are created in a similar spirit\; the artist views working from observa
tion as an opposition to a real\, physical world that is constantly changin
g. Alongside his works on paper\, Schütte will feature ceramic and bronze s
culptures\, including the impressive Vater Staat (Father State)\, a
towering steel figure that paradoxically appears frail and isolated in spit
e of its scale.

In add
ition to immersing himself in the legacies of minimalism and conceptualism\
, Schütte spent time investigating classical sculpture\, including the Roma
n portraits of the emperors housed in the Capitoline Museum: <
br />I was [in Rome] in 1992\, the yea
r there was this peaceful revolution in Italy where the heads of State and
a lot of prominent people were being exposed and discredited and sent to ja
il. So the caricature and the satire [were] a reality... The United Enemies series originat
es from this time and portrays figures modelled in isolation but bound in p
airs\, emerging in parallel.

As with many of his works\, Schütte reassesses the figurative tradit
ions of art in his portraits\, presenting emotionally-charged observations
of the human condition. His work brings together both romantic visions of t
he world as well as more dystopian possibilities.